Less than a year into the first term of the seventh cabinet of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), opposition groups say the “The cabinet has so far made no progress."

Kardo Muhammad, head of the Change Movement (Gorran) MPs in the Kurdish parliament, says, "It has not been successful in terms of fulfilling the promises it gave."

Muhammad says that people expected the new cabinet to implement reform plans proposed by the opposition.

"When the current cabinet of the KRG commenced its work, we expected it to implement parts of the reform packages presented by the opposition, but that did not happen,” says Muhammad. “It neither formed a negotiation committee nor implemented the laws that have national dimensions."

Muhammad particularly singled out the unsatisfactory performance of one ministry, saying, "The worst ministry is the Ministry of Finance."

"This government has two choices: it either carries out the reform plans or awaits the next elections,” he added.

The seventh KRG cabinet was inaugurated in April, at a time when relations between the ruling parties—the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)—and the opposition had soured over anti-government protests in Sulaimani the previous year.

Omar Abdulaziz, an MP from the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU), admits that the government is dealing with problems it inherited from previous cabinets.

"The KRG is entangled in some old problems which have become an impediment on its path,” he says. “The ministers themselves said that some laws have not been implemented and openly admitted the existence of partisan interference in the government."

Abdulaziz maintains that the government has so far failed to determine the priorities for the ministries’ work and that the political parties still interfere in the works of the government

"There is either a lack of will for reform or the capability to do so,” he says.

KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani has urged his ministers on different occasions to perform their duties more seriously, and he has asked political parties, including his own KDP to not interfere in the government’s work.

During a recent visit to Duhok province he spoke more openly to the members of the KDP, saying, "I hope you assist the KRG and not interfere in the government."

Aram Qadir, an MP from the Kurdistan Islamic League (Komal), says the new cabinet has yet to pass new laws on employment, and form a negotiation committee.

"This cabinet has also failed to resolve the issues between the government and the opposition." Qadir said.

Soon after his swearing in ceremony, PM Barzani visited opposition leaders in Sulaimani to ease tensions between the KRG and the opposition. But Qadir says that those visits did not fulfill the expectations.

“They were never followed by practical steps,” he says. “The problem of the employees sacked from their government jobs for being members of the opposition parties, was not resolved either."

Dana Saeed Sofi, a PUK MP says the current cabinet has taken some positive steps in terms of social services, "But reform has not been implemented yet. Work on empowering the Financial Oversight Board, forming the Committee of Human Rights, one-window-system in the government institutions, establishing e-government, and improving human rights conditions have not been done yet."









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